Toyo Ito
On June 1, 1941, designer Toyo Ito was born in South Korea's capital, Seoul. At that time, Korea was still part of Japan. Consequently, Ito and his family moved to Japan when he was still very young. At the University of Tokyo, he studied architecture, in which he graduated in 1965.
After Ito graduated, he began working for Japanese architect Kiyonori Kikutake. In 1971, Ito began working for himself. He founded his own company called URBOT, derived from Urban Robot. Later, in 1979, this name was changed to Toyo Ito & Associates. He worked with major companies such as Alessi, for whom he created the Alessi Ku Tableware and the Alessi Mu cutlery collection designed.
Ito himself describes his way of designing as a flowering garden. The atmosphere you find here is sometimes unpredictable, but can also be very soothing. A garden has no clear forms; instead, it is all loose elements. This metaphor describes the difference between the idea in the designer's head, and the result that can actually be seen.